British Independent Film Awards To Honor Michael Gambon, Jude LawSir Michael Gambon is to receive the Richard Harris Award at the British Independent Film Awards next month. The prize recognizes outstanding contribution to British film by an actor. Last year’s recipient was Ralph Fiennes. Gambon’s career spans six decades in theater, TV and film and includes such titles as The Singing Detective; The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; Gosford Park; The King’s Speech and six of the eight Harry Potter films. Gambon took over the role of Professor Albus Dumbledore when Richard Harris died in 2002 after completing Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets. Jude Law will also be honored at the BIFAs with The Variety Award which recognizes an actor, director, writer or producer who has helped focus international attention on the UK. Kenneth Branagh was the honoree last year. Law is currently shooting dark comedy Dom Hemingway and will star in Werner Herzog’s Queen Of The Desertwith Naomi Watts and Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. Next year, he appears onstage in a West End production of Henry V. The BIFA ceremony will be held December 9.

SUMS Film & Media Launches With ‘Phone Book’UK financier and producer Bob Benton’s Bob & Co has partnered with producer Andy Brunskill to launch SUMS Film & Media. The partners say the production company will focus on narrative-driven content for new digital platforms, traditional theatrical releases and a combination of the two. The first project is Phone Book, a Twin Peaks-meets-Lost multi-stranded narrative feature from Raw Shark Texts author Steven Hall. The project is backed with funding from the BFI and brings together a group of disparate characters whose lives start to intertwine after a series of mysterious events. The stories will be accessible through an interactive tablet or smart phone interface that feeds into and out of the theatrical feature version. Hall and other screenwriters will contribute storylines. Oscar-winning editor Angus Wall will direct selected segments and former Scott Free exec Malcolm Reeve is exec producing. Other SUMS development projects include a teen gang war epic based on the non-fiction book Teenage: The Creation Of Youth 1875-1945 and The Winter Ghosts, to be adapted from the Kate Mosse novel by We Need To Talk About Kevin co-screenwriter Rory Kinnear.